COUGARS OPEN PAC-12 PLAY HOSTING DUCKS IN SPOKANE: Washington State University men's basketball (8-4) returns to action as it opens the inaugural Pac-12 season hosting Oregon (9-3), Thursday, Dec. 29 at 6 p.m. at Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash. WSU will play its first two Pac-12 games at neutral-site Spokane Arena while students are away from Pullman for the holiday. Thursday's game can be seen on Comcast SportsNet Northwest (CSNNW), or you can listen on the Cougar Radio Network with Bud Nameck's call. Please see the list of affiliates on page one of today's notes for more information.

WSU IN CONFERENCE OPENERS:
 The Cougars were 5-5 in Pacific-8 Conference openers and 9-24 in Pacific-10 Conference openers all-time, for a combined 14-29 record in conference openers since the Pac-8 formed in 1968-69 (the Pac-10 formed in 1978-79).
 WSU was 4-1 in Pac-8 openers at home and 8-11 in Pac-10 openers at home for a 12-12 mark in conference openers at home.
 The Cougars notched a 2-3 record in Pac-10 openers at Spokane Arena...the last time they opened the conference season in Spokane was during the 2005-06 season when they lost to Arizona.
 Of the 43 games to open the Pac-8/Pac-10 seasons, just one has come against Oregon (Dec. 31, 2009).
 Of the 10 members of the Pac-10, WSU has never opened the conference season against just one team, that being Oregon State.
 WSU is just 2-10 in its last 12 conference openers and has lost five of its last six openers at home (1-2 in Spokane).
 The only other time the Ducks and Cougars met in the league opener came Dec. 31, 2009, in which Oregon needed two overtimes to defeat WSU, 91-89.
 WSU is 2-3 in conference openers that have gone into overtime since the creation of the Pac-8.

WSU AGAINST OREGON:
 Washington State trails the all-time series against Oregon 158-123.
 The Cougars lead the series 74-58 at home...they are 1-0 against Oregon in Spokane.
 The Cougars and Ducks split the season series last year.
 The two teams have met 11 times in the last four seasons, twice last year and three in each of the previous three seasons.
 The Cougars had won six-straight over the Ducks until the 2009-10 Pac-10 opener Dec. 31 at Pullman.

ABOUT THE COUGARS:
 Washington State is 8-4 on the season, 1-3 in neutral-site games, 5-0 at home and 2-1 in away games...WSU lost its first three neutral-site games, wearing white in all three, all at the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif.
 In their last outing, the Cougars defeated Pepperdine, 67-56, at Seattle's KeyArena as part of their annual Cougar Hardwood Classic.
 WSU is riding a six-game winning streak, its longest since winning its first six games of the 2009-10 season...the last time the Cougars won seven in a row was in 2007-08 when the team won all 12 nonconference games, en route to winning its first 14 games of the season.
 Despite missing three games this season with a concussion, senior Faisal Aden leads the team and ranks fifth in the Pac-12 with 15.3 points per game...he's scored in double figures in eight of the nine games he's played in.
 Junior Brock Motum is the only other Cougar in double figures while tied for ninth in the league with 14.2 points per game and a league 11th-best (tied) 6.4 rebounds an outing...he is ninth in the conference with a .557 (64-for-115) field goal percentage.
 Redshirt senior Abe Lodwick played his first game this season Dec. 18 after missing the first 10 with a foot injury.
 Redshirt junior Mike Ladd missed WSU's games against UC Riverside, Grambling State, Eastern Washington, Idaho and Santa Clara with a sprained thumb.
 Faisal Aden missed the Cougars' games against Eastern Washington, Idaho and Santa Clara with a concussion.

THE DIFFERENCE FOUR YEARS MAKE FOR ENQUIST:
 In his first four seasons with the Cougars (he redshirted in 2007-08), Charlie Enquist scored a combined 50 points, grabbed 63 rebounds, and played a total of 331 minutes.
 This season as a redshirt senior, Enquist already has 89 points, 68 rebounds and 234 minutes played in just 12 games this season.
 Enquist is shooting .810 (34-for-42) from the field and .840 (21-for-25) from the free throw line...he has made 14 of his last 16 shots and his last 12 free throws.
 He ranks 19th in the conference with 5.7 rebounds per game.

MOORE OF THE SAME:
 Reggie Moore has finished in the top-nine in the league in assists per game over in his first two seasons (ninth last season, fifth as a freshman in 2009-10).
 This season Moore leads the league with 5.5 assists per game...he's adding a team third-best 9.3 points per game.
 Moore started the season ranked 18th in the WSU record books for career assists with 226...he currently has moved up to ninth with 292 careers assists, 32 away from Blake Pengelly in eighth with 324.
 The Cougar season record for assists average is 6.9 apg accomplished by Donminic Elllison during the 1994-95 season...he also holds the second spot with 5.6 per game during the 1995-96 season.
 If Moore continues his 5.5 assists per game average this season, he will hold the third-best single season average in WSU history.

BRINGING IN THE NEW YEAR:
 The Cougars host the Beavers of Oregon State Dec. 31, two days after the meeting with the Ducks.
 Washington State is 10-4 all-time in games played on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31).
 This marks the third-straight season the Cougars will play on New Year's Eve...they played at USC last season and hosted Oregon in 2009-10.
 WSU has played on Dec. 31 four of the last seven games, adding wins over Stanford in 2004-05 and Arizona State in 2005-06.
 Three of the last four New Year's Eve games have been played at home, with the 2004-05 game taking place in Spokane as well.

WASHINGTON STATE GETS 1,500TH WIN:
 With the win at Idaho Dec. 7, Washington State notched its 1,500th win in its 109 years of existence.
 The Cougars are now 1,503-1,371 all-time for a .523 win percentage.

LAST OUTING:
 The Cougars defeated Pepperdine, 67-56, Thursday, Dec. 22 at KeyArena as part of the Cougar Hardwood Classic.
 DaVonté Lacy tied his career high with three 3-pointers made...he finished with 15 points, his first time in double figures since scoring 10 against Grambling State, Nov. 30...his 15 points tied his career high.
 Faisal Aden finished with 17 points, his most since scoring 25 against New Mexico, Nov. 25...he's scored in double figures in eight of the nine games he's played in this season.
 Brock Motum returned to double figures with 11 points...he's scored in double digits in 11 of WSU's 12 games this season.
 WSU extended its winning streak to six games, its longest win streak since winning the first six games of the 2009-10 season, Nov. 13 through Nov. 28.
 The Cougar bench outscored the Waves' bench 25-11...got 22 points off 11 Pepperdine turnovers.
 WSU's 10 turnovers mark a season low.
 Pepperdine scored a WSU opponent season low 15 points in the first half...Grambling scored 17 Nov. 30.
 Charlie Enquist had his streak of 14-consecutive field goals made snapped...he hadn't missed a shot since Dec. 7 at Idaho.

MOTUM NAMED PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
 Brock Motum was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week for the week of Dec. 5-12.
 Motum led the Cougars to two victories that week, a 66-64 win at Idaho Wednesday (Dec. 7) and a 93-55 win over Santa Clara Sunday (Dec. 11).
 This is the first honor for Motum, who becomes the first Cougar not named Klay Thompson to earn conference player of the week since Taylor Rochestie picked up the honor, Feb. 23, 2009.
 Motum is the first forward to pick up the accolades since Daven Harmeling, Feb. 4, 2007.
 It marks Washington State's 24th all-time Player of the Week.

Ken Bone IN HIS THIRD SEASON:
 WSU head coach Ken Bone holds a 46-32 record in his third season in 2011-12, and already has more wins than eight previous Cougar men's basketball coaches, six of which coached at least two seasons.
 Last season Bone led WSU to an NIT postseason appearance, making him the third-fastest Cougar coach to reach a postseason tournament.
 He also has more wins than two of the last three head coaches, 10 more than Dick Bennett (2003-06, 36-49) and 15 more than four-year head coach Paul Graham (2000-03, 31-79).

CAPERS ON PACE FOR GAMES PLAYED RECORD:
 Senior Marcus Capers has played 110 games in his WSU career, while the school record is 127 games played set by George Hamilton in 1945 and 47-49.
 Given Capers plays in all the team's games this season, he will play in his 127th game March 1 at UCLA and his record-setting 128th game in WSU's regular season finale, March 3 at USC.